No vehicle transfer sans e-challan payment

Excise dept to also get access to defaulters data

LAHORE:

Punjab Excise Department and Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA) have settled the matter for the recovery of pending e-challans worth millions. A summary was sent to the government by the PSCA. The resource mobilisation committee had approved the summary.

No transaction regarding vehicle and motorcycle will be made till payment of dues of e-challan. Excise will also be given full access to all information about defaulters and e-challan data for record checking. Once the challan was submitted, only a car, motorcycle, rickshaw, van or any other vehicle could be transferred to the citizen’s name.

The PSCA issued more than two million e-challans for non-compliance with traffic rules but the citizens did not pay more than Rs80 million worth of e-challans. The excise department’s Motor Registration Authority and the PSCA decided on how to collect the amount. The car or motorcycle cannot be transferred without payment of e-challans.

Sources added that first the excise department would have to pay the money of e-challans only then the vehicle would be transferred. Resource mobilisation committee approved the summary of the safe cities authority. Recommendations were made for the inclusion of suggestions in the finance bill. Reportedly, the Safe Cities Authority had been struggling to recover fines since the introduction of e-challan. The authority also took action with the traffic police, but despite this, citizens do not pay large scale e-challan fines.

In this regard, the PSCA held several meetings with the provincial excise department, after which, on the proposal of the safe cities authority, a summary of the amendment in the law was unanimously sent for the collection of e-challans.

As per the statistics, more than two million e-challans were due by the citizens so far and the amount of these challans was more than Rs80 million.

The PSCA will pay 2% per challan to the excise department for receiving millions of rupees worth of challans. A spokesperson for the excise department said if the system can be improved with the cooperation of the agencies, then this cooperation should be done.

“By doing so, people will not only obey the traffic rules but will also know that they cannot evade if they have broken the rules. It has been observed that people have received 20 or more e-challans but they have not submitted a single one of them.”

Therefore, cooperation of institutions was required for implementing the law for the betterment of the people, the spokesperson concluded.

On December 30 last year, a blacklisted vehicle spotted by PSCA cameras was held for dodging 79 e-challans. The safe cities authority had impounded the vehicle over non-payment of at least 79 e-challans amounting to Rs55,000. Reportedly, the blacklisted vehicle was spotted by the PSCA cameras during surveillance near Faisal town.

The vehicle was intercepted by the traffic wardens and the vehicle’s e-challans were checked through an application. The said vehicle owner was a defaulter of 79 e-challans hence the vehicle was seized and taken to the Faisal Town police station.

On November 23 last year, PSCA seized a vehicle over non-payment of 105 e-challans. A blacklisted vehicle was spotted by the PSCA cameras during surveillance near Ganga Ram.

The vehicle was intercepted by traffic wardens. Vehicle e-challans were checked through an app provided by the authority to the traffic police. The vehicle owner was found to be a defaulter of 105 e-challans.

The vehicle was seized at Mazang police station for non-payment of the fine. The amount payable by the owner of the vehicle is Rs50,300.